Reciprocating booster pump



v0d. 31, 1967 J, M sHEEsLEY 3,349,995

RECIPROCATING BOOSTER PUMP Filed sept. a, 1965 2 sheets-sheet 1 l Arme/VU Oct..31`, 1967 Filed Sept. 2, 1965 J. M. SHEESLEY RECIPROCATINGBOOSTER PUMP 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Job/7 JeeJ/ey I N VENTOR.

BY 19M w /LL/V United States Patent Otiice 3,349,995 RECIPROCATIN GBOSTER PUMP John M. Sheesley, R0. Box 14604, Houston, Tex. 77021 FiledSept. 2, 1965, Ser. No. 484,647 3 Claims. (Cl. 230--52) This inventionconcerns booster pumps, and specifically those pumps in which gas or airunder one pressure is 4received and in turn provided to distant pointsat a pressure greater than said one pressure.

The uses, in industry for pressurized fluids, including air, or othergases, are so numerous as to be legion. Moreover, the particularpressure, at which the pressurized fluid performs at its optimum, maywell vary, depending on the particular use or on the particular deviceto which the fluid is supplied. Additionally, some operations areeconomically limited in the character of the pressureproducing equipmentthat may be provided at particular points or locations.

For the reasons discussed generally above, numerous -attempts have beenmade to produce economical pressure gener-ating or increasing pumpswhich can multiply the fluid pressure beyond that present in the linesupplied to the pump. Examples of such prior devices include thosedisclosed in U.S. Patents Nos. 657,160; 1,161,787; 1,615,- 133;1,740,924; 2,800,924; 2,977,040; and 3,053,435. However, for one or morereasons such prior devices have not proved to fully satisfy the wants ordemands of the users.

Therefore, the device of this invention has as its principal object, theprovision of a pumping mechanism which is capable of receiving tluidsunder pressure and, after operation thereon, providing fluids at apressure up to substantially double that of the uids as originallyprovided. As herein used, the terrntluid includes all gases.

A further object is the provision of such a device that is 'botheconomical to produce and simple in construction and operation. Theseand still further objects will be seen to be accomplished afterconsidering the following description and drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective of the assembled pump, parts being cut away toreveal the interior mechanism;

FIGURE 2 is a partial horizontal section taken along 2-2 of FIGURE 1;

'FIGURE 3 is a partial section taken along 3-'3 of FIGURE 1, showing theinterior of the poppet valve mechanism;

FIGURE 4 is a partial section taken along 4 4 of FIGURE 1, .showing theair paths to gauges;

FIGURE 5 is a View partly in elevation and partly in section showing theinterior of a four-way Valve.

Consider rst FIGURE 1, wherein the numeral designates, generally, theentire pump, which is in turn, divided into two separate, butsubstantially identical, cylinders 11 and 12. Said cylinders are axed toopposite sides, respectively, of central body block 13. Each of saidcylinders are closed at their ends away from block 13 by heads 14 and15, respectively. Ailixed to each of said heads and extendingtherebetween is tie rod 16. The means of attaching said rod to heads 14-and 15 may take the form of the bolt assembly depicted outside of head14 in FIGURE 1, with similar undepicted members outside head 15, nospecific type of junction being critical other than the requirement thatsaid rod extend between said heads and afixed thereto. Within theenclosure defined lby cylinder 11, block 13 and head 14, the tie rod isseen to pass or be journaled through piston 17, creating enclosed areas18 and 19 on either side of said piston. Within cylinder 12, piston 20divides the interior of said cylinder into like compartments 21 and 22.Sleeve 23 is 3,349,995 Patented Oct. 31, 1967 seen to link pistons 17and 20 into one unitarily acting body, said sleeve encompassing andslidingly engaging rod 16. The portion of sleeve 23 between heads 17 and20 slidably reciprocates through a central opening or bearing portion200 in block 13. Thus, in a manner hereinafter described, pistons 17 and20, together with sleeve 23, may move as a unit transversely within pump10, along and guided by rod 16.

Aflixed to one side of block 13 is plate 40, said plate being bolted tothe block by connectors such as those designated by numerals 41. Asimilar plate 42 is so attached to the opposite face of block 13.Interior of block 13 a 4-way valve is displaced and operates in a mannerhereinafter described.

Air or gas from the supply line will enter the pump 10 through input 50,said input communicating with aperture 51 in the block portion 1'3 (seeFIGURE 2) as well as with a central -annulus 61 in the piston 62 of a4-way valve designated as `60. Although specific placement is obviouslynot critical, the 4-way valve might be horizontally placed tow-ard theupper portion of block 13, as seen in 'FIGURE 1. The passagewaysurrounding annulus 61 may communicate with aperture 51. Of course,input 50 may branch in an ordinary manner so as to serve a separateopening in block 13 and connect directly with aperture 51, the object ineither instance being to supply gas at line pressure to annulus 61 andaperture 51. Thus line air will initially pass through aperture 51,thence to tunnel 52 and out either end thereof to cavities 53 and 54,compressing spring biased check valves 55 and 56 and thereafter passthrough apertures 57 and 5S in plates 40 and 42 to finally enterenclosed areas 19 and 21, equalizing the pressure therein.

Air from the same source 50, will also, on entering the area partiallydened by annulus `61, follow the path devlined by arrow MM, said pathconnecting with cylinder port conduit 70 and thereafter with area 18 ofcylinder 11. At this time it should be pointed out that piston 62 maynaturally be shifted as hereinafter described to a further positionwherein the line supplied air would be limited `by annulus I6101 andfollow the path described by dashed line NN to enter cylinder portconduit 71, thereby flowing into area 22 of cylinder 12.

Initially, then, pressure would be equalized in chambers 19 and 21,while air from the supply line would circuitously enter chamber 18through conduit 70. This would cause pressure to increase within chamber18, tending to move piston 17 to the right as seen in FIGURE 1. Further,since the supply air would continue to enter charnber 21 throughaperture 58, pressure would be exerted against piston 20, tending todisplace it toward the right as seen in FIGURE 1. Build-up in pressurewithin charnber 19 would cause check valve 55 to close the juncture oftunnel 52 with cavity 53. Thus, the line pressure would be exertedagainst both pistons 17 and 20. Since said pistons are unitarily linkedby sleeve 23 the effective force exerted is double that which would becaused by pressure build-up against one piston face alone. As piston 17moves toward block 13 the pressure within cavity 19 may `reachapproximately double that of the line pressure. This compressed air orgas may then pass through exit port 100, compress the spring biased exitvalve 101, and pass into an exit line (not shown) connected to terminalport 102. Further compressed gas within chamber 19 may pass throughaperture 75, duly restricted, if desired, by some check valve (notshown) and exit through opening 76 to operate gauge means as desired(see FIG- URES 1 and 4). Pressure tending to build up within chamber 22is overcome in that gas would ilow counterclockwise, according to FIGURE1, through conduit 71, as limited by annulus 61a to finally exit throughexhaust port 77, i.e. along the path deemed Q-Q in FIGURE 5. As piston17 approaches block 13, it will press against spring biased pin 80 ofone of the two poppet valves shown in FIGURE 3. On said pin beingcompressed, the air trapped between piston 17 and plate 40 of block 13,may escape through port 81, which port is, in turn, connected, by meansof tubing, to a port 82 in head 83; a further port 84 is shown in head83, to illustrate the possibility of connecting exit port 81 to the4-way valve in a number of manners. Or course on said air under pressureentering port 82, piston 62 will shift to its alternate position,wherein the cycle will be repeated with the pistons 17 and 20 moving tothe left as viewed in FIGURE 1. [During this return trip, line suppliedair would pass through line 50, along dashed-line path NN of FIGURE 5.This would build up pressure within area 22. Further, line gas wouldenter area 19 through aperture 51, tunnel 52, cavity 53, and aperture57. Both of these pressure build-ups would tend to cause linked pistons17 and 20 to move toward the left, as seen in FIG- URE 1. Gas withinarea 18 would move, via conduit 70 along path RR, to exhaust throughport 90. As pressure within area 21 increases to substantially doublethat of the line pressure, spring biased'pin 110 would be compressedpermitting the compresed gas to pass through port 102 as describedearlier. Gauge readings may be caused by pressurized exiting of gasthrough apertures 130, 111 in block 13 (see FIGURE 4) aperture 111 beingconnected to the oppositely disposed counterpart of a gauge associatedwith port 76 of FIGURE 1. As piston 20 approaches plate 42 of block 13,it would compress pin 121 of the right-hand poppet valve shown in FIGURE3, permitting high pressure gas to exit through port 122 to a connectingmember leading to head 130, said head having apertures therein, such as131 or 132, permitting the air pressure to force piston 62 of the 4-wayvalve to its initial position. lObviously the entry port 131, or 132,just as with the counter-part 82 and 84, may be plugged when not beingused.

Thus, in connection with a description of the structure of thisinvention, the operation has been described. In summation, air or othergas from a supply line is caused to exert a pressure against similarlyaligned faces of two pistons in two separate chambers. Since the pistonsare linked together, and since there is pressure build-up within one ofthe chambers decreasing in size by virtue of piston displacement, theline pressure is caused to be increased. The movement of the pistons isthen permitted to then reverse, and by virtue of valve and pistonaction, to have the same cycle occur. Although this invention has beendescribed in terms of a single embodiment, it is obvious that numerousmodifications may be made by one skilled in the art, it being the desireto limit the invention only by the following appended claims in which Iclaim:

1. In a pump for increasing the pressure of gas in a supply line, thecombination of:

means for providing said supply line gas to a partitioned cylinder;

unitarily linked piston means for forming more than three chamberswithin said cylinder, the size of said chambers each being a function ofthe position of said piston means relative to one end of said cylinder,said piston means being slidably engaged with tie rod means, said tierod means being fixed to opposite ends of said cylinder and extendingtherebetween and passing through a central block; and

valve means in said central block for reversing the directional motionof said piston means.

2. In a pump, the combination of:

chamber means having a iixed, 4-way-valve-encompassing portion centrallythereof;

rod means provided in said chamber means, said rod means being Xed toopposite ends of said chamber means and extending therebetween;

sleeve-connected pistons slidably mounted on said rod means;

means directing gas from a single source into a plurality of areasformed in said chamber means by said valve encompassing portion and saidpistons; and

means for changing the direction of said gas.

3. In a pump for boosting the pressure of gas supplied,

the combination of:

an enclosed chamber;

a plurality of linked pistons movable within said chamber;

rod means positioned Within said chamber permitting the mounting thereonof said piston means, said rod means being fixed to opposite ends ofsaid chamber;

means centrally disposed in said chamber for directing gas from a supplyline against similarly facing sides of each of said pistons,

means for evacuating air at a pressure higher than that present in saidsupply line from said chamber; and

means for causing said higher pressure gas to emanate from diverseportions of said chamber on said pistons changing the direction of theirmovement.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 255,222 3/1882 Wang 230--54756,903 4/ 1904 Spencer et al. 230-54 1,448,486 3/ 1923 Garraway 230-542,336,446 12/ 1943 Tucker et al. 103-52 3,162,133 12/1964 Smith 103-52FOREIGN PATENTS 1,213,304 3/1960 France.

ROBERT M. WALKER, Primary Examiner.

1. IN A PUMP FOR INCREASING THE PRESSURE OF GAS IN A SUPPLY LINE, THECOMBINATION OF: MEANS FOR PROVIDING SAID SUPPLY LINE GAS TO APARTITIONED CYLINDER; UNITARILY LINKED PISTON MEANS FOR FORMING MORETHAN THREE CHAMBERS WITHIN SAID CYLINDER, THE SIZE OF SAID CHAMBERS EACHBEING A FUNCTION OF THE POSITION OF SAID PISTON MEANS RELATIVE TO ONEEND OF SAID CYLINDER, SAID PISTON MEANS BEING SLIDABLY ENGAGED WITH TIEROD MEANS, SAID TIE ROD MEANS BEING FIXED TO OPPOSITE ENDS OF SAIDCYLINDER AND EXTENDING THEREBETWEEN AND PASSING THROUGH A CENTRAL BLOCK;AND VALVE MEANS IN SAID CENTRAL BLOCK FOR REVERSING THE DIRECTIONALMOTION OF SAID PISTON MEANS.